Me & You
by Sixty Watermelons
Summary: Songfic to "I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off Me & You ." Sodapop's POV, reflecting on Sandy after a couple years. R


**A/N: Another songfic. It's all I seem to be writing these days. But then again, this song has been stuck in my head for the past three days. This is a problem for me--I am obsessed with my iPod, and the song in my head changes every few hours. Then I got my iPod taken away two days ago. This was the last song I listened to, thinking about making it into a songfic. Now it is stuck in my head and I can't get it out. Yeah, I do have mental issues. Anyways, the songfic is to **"**I'm Like a Lawyer with the Way I'm Always Trying to Get You Off (Me & You)" by Fall Out Boy. I love this song so much, even if it does distract me from class. Anyways, R&R.**_

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_Last year's wishes_

_Are this year's apologies_

_Every last time I come home_

It was getting late as filled up the tank of the next car with gas. The driver rolled down the window to pay, and there was the last person I thought I'd see.

"Sandy?" I'd never said her name like this before, cold and harsh.

"Hi, Soda." Sandy counted out a couple bills that she'd had in her pocket. She didn't meet my eyes as she handed me the money.

"Why are you here?" I said quietly, trying not to let the guy waiting in the truck hear what I was saying.

"I came back to visit."

I snorted. "Who? Your mom or the guy you were screwing when I was sitting at home, wondering how to propose?"

"Soda…" She looked down at her lap.

"What?" I snapped.

"I'm sorry. I never—"

I cut her off. "You never what? Loved me? Meant to get pregnant?" Her eyes filled as she looked at me for a moment.

"I did love you, Soda." The words stabbed me like a blade.

"That just makes what you did worse." I turned to the next car as Sandy drove away, crying.

_I take my last chance_

_To burn a bridge or two_

_I only keep myself this sick in the head_

_Cause I know how the words get you (off)_

Going home, I couldn't help but dwell on Sandy. It'd been almost two years since she'd left. Our lives were different now. I'd been with other girls; she'd had some other guy's kid. But life hadn't been as good as it had been when I was with her. It was hard to admit, but it was true.

I paused in front of the door, but sat down on the front steps instead.

_We're the new face of failure_

_Prettier and younger but not any better off_

_Bullet proof loneliness_

_At best, at best_

"What's up, little buddy?" Darry stepped onto the porch, where I was smoking a cigarette.

"Nothin'," I said as I took one last drag and tossed it to the ground, standing up and grinding it out with my heel. I walked past Darry and through the door, going straight to me and Pony's room.

_Me and you_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

_If I woke up next to you_

_If I woke up next to you_

It wasn't too late, but I tried to get to sleep while Pony finished his homework. He was almost done with junior year and Darry was driving him crazy with rules—'No going out on school nights.' 'In bed by ten on school days.' 'Be home by eleven on weekends.' 'Come home straight after track.' 'No cigarettes.' The kid wasn't even sixteen yet. Couldn't he give him a break?

I turned away to face the darkness. I'd dropped out of school at sixteen. I'd also dated Sandy at sixteen. I'd tried to block her from my head after turning seventeen, but now that I'd seen her again and the mental block was broken, I was wondering what I could remember about her after almost two years.

_Me and you_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

_If I woke up next to you_

_If I woke up next to you_

I could remember her hanging around the DX after school was finished. She'd just wait there 'til I finished. Sometimes she'd go inside and get a bottle of pop, and hand it to me with a kiss. She'd never known how grateful I'd been—especially when it got hot out. I'd try to pay her back, but she always waved it off and smile, insisting it was her treat.

_Collect the bad habits_

_That you couldn't bear to keep_

_Out of the woods but I love_

She'd take me to hidden places on weekends, and we'd just sit there. They were quiet—a hill you could watch the sunrise on early in the morning, the fountain in the park after sunset, and small shaded areas of trees in the afternoon.

_A tree I used to lay beneath_

_Kissed teeth stained red_

_From a sour bottle baby girl_

_With eyes the size of baby worlds_

She was always eating Razzles; that was another thing I remembered. Her tongue, and sometimes even her lips and teeth, were always bright red. I'd kiss her and taste raspberries. Did she still eat them?

_We're the new face of failure_

_Prettier and younger but not any better off_

_Bullet proof loneliness_

_At best, at best_

She wasn't like other grease girls. She had some smarts and she wasn't completely failing school. She had sense too, always avoiding the places where the toughest hoods loitered. She knew her way around the city.

_Me and you_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

_If I woke up next to you_

_If I woke up next to you_

A lot of chicks like her wore a lot of eye makeup. She wore almost none. They'd have heavy rings of black—which made them look like burglars or raccoons or something with a mask—but she'd be pretty bright eyed. Almost like a Socy girl. She still wore the short skirts like other grease girls, though. Although hers weren't as short as some other chicks. She wasn't totally reserved, but she wasn't a skank. She was pretty near perfect as far as grease girls go.

_Me and you_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

_If I woke up next to you_

_If I woke up next to you_

The light clicked off, and Pony climbed into bed next to me. It was quiet for a minute, until he turned to me and sat up.

"Soda? Are you okay?"

"Yeah. Why wouldn't I be?" I turned and faced him. He looked away.

"I saw Sandy in town today," he said, "and you came home pretty upset-lookin' and reeking of smoke."

Damn that smart kid. "She stopped by the DX. And I only smoked one cigarette on the porch," I said. Pony turned and lied back down. I sat up a little bit, though.

"You wanna know the truth, Pony?" He replied with a sleepy-sounding grunt. "I still miss her sometimes." Pony sat up again and looked at me long and hard, wiping the sleepiness from his eyes.

I really did. Was it my fault nobody could tell? Life had been good when she was around.

_Me and you_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

_If I woke up next to you_

_If I woke up next to you_

I went to the park the next day and sat by the fountain. It's a big place in our family—Pony'd almost drowned in it, Darry'd been in his first rumble near it, before we'd started going to the lot, and I'd been there with Sandy all the time. It was warming up now, almost May, but it was still early enough in the morning that nobody would be in the park.

I dipped my hand in the water, remembering the time I fell in backwards while I was sitting there with Sandy. She'd followed me, and we splashed each other and laughed for what'd seemed like hours. I'd delivered her to her front porch, soaking wet, and I heard her mother scream once the door closed.

_Me and you_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

_If I woke up next to you_

_If I woke up next to you_

I looked up at the sun. It had just risen, lighting up the early morning sky. I hadn't been able to sleep last night anyways. I used to never miss the past this bad, except for when I thought about mom and dad. Now it was a feeling that I had to learn how to block. Johnny and Dallas, but Sandy especially. I'd been pretty harsh to her. It made me bitter, and no matter how many years pass, it always will. That kind of thing leaves a scar.

_The best way_

_To make it through_

_With hearts and wrists intact_

_Is to realize_

_Two out of three ain't bad_

_Ain't bad_

Sometimes I'd considered ditching town, try to run away from the past. Escape everything that had happened, all the stuff that I wished hadn't. But then I remembered all I did have and I quit thinkin' that way.

I remembered what Darry had been like when Pony ran away; I wondered what he would be like if I ran away. And how would Pony react? Would he cry all night like I did, or go through the day numb like Darry? After the way he'd acted when Johnny and Dallas died, he'd probably go around banging into things and forgetting stuff. I needed them, and they needed me. Thinking it through again, all that went through my head was: Why'd I ever want to leave?

_Me and you_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

_If I woke up next to you_

_If I woke up next to you_

Once I'd thought about heading down to Florida, back right after Sandy had left to try and get her back. But then I thought about what she'd done more than I had before. I'd been true to her, but she hadn't been to me. I'd loved her; she hadn't loved me the way I thought. Should I really try to chase her, try and chase everything she'd done to me? Would it hurt or help?

_Me and you_

_(Honeymoon)_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

Just 'cause I saw her yesterday, I was missing her badly again. But I was also sorta glad everything had happened when it'd happened. It was confusing, especially for me. I wasn't sure if I missed her. Sometimes it felt that way. But most of the time I just got confused when it came to that. It was only messing me up. I guess I gotta leave the past where it belongs.

I stood up and looked back at the fountain one last time. Then I turned around and walked to work, kicking a stone along the sidewalk on my way.

_Me and you_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

_(Honeymoon)_

_If I woke up next to you_

_If I woke up next to you_

Later, I walked in the door, expecting to see Pony home, but not Darry. He'd been working more than usual lately, and didn't normally get back 'til after dinner. They both looked pale and upset, and scared too.

"What's up?" I asked cautiously, taking in their faces. Darry held up an open envelope.

"Draft notice. For Vietnam." My face drained and my heart started pounding.

"For you?" Pony and I couldn't make it alone. The only way it would work would be if Pony dropped out of school, and that sure as hell wasn't happening.

"No, Soda." He looked me straight in the eye while Pony stared at the ground. "For you."

I walked past them, dazed, and closed the door to me and Pony's room. I went straight over to our bed, curled up on my side, and started bawling. I hadn't meant it that way when I said I wanted to leave the past behind. I didn't want to leave it this way. My whole life was here. All I'd wanted to escape was Sandy, and she was already gone. Sometimes I missed her, but I guess I could live through it. But I couldn't do this. I can't go across the world. I couldn't fight. The only "war" I've ever been in was Soc against grease. I can't do this. I can't.

_Me and you_

_Setting in a honeymoon_

_(Honeymoon)_

_If I woke up next to you_

_(Honeymoon)_

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_**A/N: What do you think? And by the way, I am NOT making this up. To help Rob Lowe prepare for his role as Sodapop in the movie, S.E. Hinton told him that Soda dies two weeks before his nineteenth birthday (which, by the way, would have been October 8th, 1969) in the Vietnam War. This was back when young men got drafted instead of volunteering to serve in the military. It's sad--I accidentally depressed a girl in my grade who loves Soda by telling her this. Oops. R&R.**


End file.
